Earth Sciences Commons^™

New Insights Into The Outlet Conditions Of Late Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, Southeastern Idaho, Usa, Susanne U. Janecke, R. Q. Oaks Jr.

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Geologic, geomorphic, and geophysical analyses of landforms, sediments, and structures in northern Cache Valley, USA, document a revised history of flooding and recession of Lake Bonneville, the world's premier pluvial lake. Crosscutting relationships suggest that the Riverdale fault produced a surface-rupturing earthquake ∼25 km southeast of Zenda shortly before, during, or after the Bonneville flood, as well as possible younger surface ruptures. Thus fluctuating stresses and pore pressure induced by changing lake levels may have triggered a large earthquake that, in turn, triggered the Bonneville flood. The flood scoured ∼25 km of Cache and Marsh Valleys and activated landslides during …

Rock Properties And Internal Structure Of The San Andreas Fault Near ~ 3 Km Depth In The Safod Borehole Based On Meso- To Micro-Scale Analyses Of Phase Iii Whole Rock Core, Kelly Keighley Bradbury, James P. Evans

Geosciences Presentations

We examine the relationships between rock properties and structure within ~ 41 m of PHASE III whole-rock core collected from ~ 3 km depth along the SAF in the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) borehole, near Parkfield, CA.

Effect Of Mica Content On Surface Infiltration Of Soils In Northwestern Kern County, California, Steven Keyes Stakland

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A soils infiltration rate (IR) is the measured rate that soil is able to absorb water, either from precipitation or irrigation. A low IR can cause damage to crops if the necessary amount of water cannot penetrate to the plant roots in the time needed. The damage can be common in permanent plantings such as almond and pistachio orchards where regular tillage is avoided. This indicates a physical aspect to the problem because tillage increases IR. However, there is also an electrochemical side to infiltration problems because certain calcium surfactant treatments can increase IR. Various other methods have been used …

Estimates Of The Hydraulic Parameters Of Aquifers In Cache Valley, Utah And Idaho, Paul C. Inkenbrandt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hydraulic parameters of aquifers in Cache Valley were compiled from existing but largely unpublished data, from specific capacity data reported in well drillers' records, and from aquifer tests conducted for this study. A GIS database was also created to organize this information.

A complete and thorough literature review was performed, which included obtaining unpublished aquifer test data from state and federal agencies, as well as reviewing Drinking Water Source Protection plans for each municipality in the valley.

Well drillers' records were obtained from the Utah Division of Water Rights website and examined for pertinent information. Screened unit intervals from 1,314 …

Bracketing The Age Of The Great Gallery Rock Art Panel In Horseshoe Canyon, Utah By Osl Dating Of Associated Alluvial Terraces, Melissa S. Jackson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Barrier Canyon Style rock art (BCS) is a unique rock art style indigenous to the middle Colorado Plateau that is of an unknown age and formed by a combination of wall preparation, rock pecking, and application of multiple pigments. It is characterized by broad-shouldered, mummy-like figures that commonly lack limbs and facial details but are accompanied by animated and realistic representations of animals. The age of BCS art remains unknown in spite of attempts to radiocarbon date accessory brush fibers in the mineral-based pigment. Yet a range of age hypotheses exist, from as young as 1600 AD to as old …

Random Forests Applied As A Soil Spatial Predictive Model In Arid Utah, Alexander Knell Stum

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Initial soil surveys are incomplete for large tracts of public land in the western USA. Digital soil mapping offers a quantitative approach as an alternative to traditional soil mapping. I sought to predict soil classes across an arid to semiarid watershed of western Utah by applying random forests (RF) and using environmental covariates derived from Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and digital elevation models (DEM). Random forests are similar to classification and regression trees (CART). However, RF is doubly random. Many (e.g., 500) weak trees are grown (trained) independently because each tree is trained with a new randomly …

Examination Of Deformation In Crystalline Rock From Strike-Slip Faults In Two Locations, Southern California, David H. Forand

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Damage zones adjacent to or associated with faults are important to the geologic community because of their implications to hazards and their ability to preserve evidence for, and show history of, slip, fluid flow, and deformation associated with large strike-slip faults. We examine two fault zones in southern California where fault zone damage is expressed. We revisit the drilled crystalline core from the Cajon Pass California drill hole, 4 km northeast of the San Andreas fault (SAF), and 1 km north of the Cleghorn fault, to perform a systematic structural analysis of deformation and alteration associated with strike-slip faulting at …

Feasibility Of Extending An Artificial Salmon Spawning Stream, Marx Creek Near Hyder, Alaska, Tom Nelson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Marx Creek, near Hyder in southeast Alaska, is a groundwater-fed, artificial salmon-spawning stream that was constructed to enhance the habitat of the atypically large chum salmon. The success of the upper Marx Creek has been limited primarily by the infiltration of silty water from the Salmon River through its flood-control dike, which results in a turbid stream environment that is not conducive to salmon spawning.

The purpose of this project was to determine whether baseflow from the groundwater system is sufficient to support a proposed 1,000-foot extension of Marx Creek. The extension would be constructed approximately 500 feet east of …

High-Resolution Holocene Alluvial Chronostratigraphy At Archaeological Sites In Eastern Grand Canyon, Arizona, Erin Margaret Tainer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Understanding the nature of Colorado River deposits in Grand Canyon helps reveal how the river responds to changes in its Colorado Plateau tributaries and Rocky Mountain headwaters. This study focused on Holocene alluvial deposits associated with archaeological sites excavated near Ninemile Draw in Glen Canyon and at Tanner Bar in eastern Grand Canyon. Two previously-developed conceptual models of deposition were tested based on previous work. Previous researchers have suggested that Holocene alluvial deposits in Grand Canyon are a series of inset aggradational packages that correlate to valley fills and arroyo-cutting cycles in Colorado Plateau tributaries and are laterally consistent throughout …

Composition And Structure Of The San Andreas Fault Observatory At Depth (Safod) Phase Iii Whole-Rock Core: Implications For Fault Zone Deformation And Fluid-Rock Interactions, Kelly Keighley Bradbury, James P. Evans

Geosciences Presentations

We examine the composition and texture of whole-rock core from ~ 3 km depth in the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) borehole, which provides a unique opportunity to characterize in situ rock properties of the near-fault environment, and how these properties vary in an area where deformation is accommodated by aseismic creep and high-rates of microseismicity. Detailed petrography and microstructural analyses coupled with X-Ray Diffraction and X-ray Fluorescence techniques are used to describe composition, alteration, and textures.

All samples record multiple generations of cataclastic deformation in a complexly deformed and altered sequence of fine-grained sheared rocks. Localized shears …

Tree Rings And Earthquakes, Matthew F. Bekker

Wasatch Dendroclimatology Research

The lithosphere, earth’s rigid outer shell comprising crust and upper mantle rock, is broken into about 14 tectonic plates (Christopherson 2009) that move a few centimeters per year over superheated, pliable rock underneath. Forces within earth’s interior push, pull and twist the plates in different directions, producing three types of plate boundaries: convergent (colliding with one another), divergent (moving away from one another) and transform (sliding past one another). Earthquakes occur when plates become locked together, building strain between and within them that is suddenly released, sending a burst of seismic waves that cause shaking and displacement of the surface. …

Age And Structure Of The San Jacinto And San Felipe Fault Zones And Their Lifetime Slip Rates, Susanne U. Janecke, R. J. Dorsey, B. Belgarde

Geosciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Geophysical Properties Within The San Andreas Fault Zone At The San Andreas Fault Observatory At Depth (Safod) And Their Relationships To Rock Properties And Fault Zone Structure, Tamara N. Jeppson, Kelly Keighley Bradbury, James P. Evans

Geosciences Faculty Publications

We examine the relationships between borehole geophysical data and physical properties of fault‐related rocks within the San Andreas Fault as determined from data from the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth borehole. Geophysical logs, cuttings data, and drilling data from the region 3‐ to 4‐km measured depth of the borehole encompass the active part of the San Andreas Fault. The fault zone lies in a sequence of deformed sandstones, siltstone, shale, serpentinite‐bearing block‐in‐matrix rocks, and sheared phyllitic siltstone. The borehole geophysical logs reveal the presence of a low‐velocity zone from 3190 to 3410 m measured depth with V_p and …

High Geologic Slip Rates Since Early Pleistocene Initiation Of The San Jacinto And San Felipe Fault Zones In The San Andreas Fault System, Southern California, Usa, Susanne U. Janecke, R. J. Dorsey, D. Forand, A. N. Steely, S. M. Kirby, A. T. Lutz, B. A. Housen, B. Belgarde, V. E. Langenheim, T. M. Rittenour

Geosciences Faculty Publications

The San Jacinto right-lateral strike-slip fault zone is crucial for understanding plate-boundary dynamics, regional slip partitioning, and seismic hazards within the San Andreas fault system of southern California, yet its age of initiation and long-term average slip rate are controversial. This synthesis of prior and new detailed studies in the western Salton Trough documents initiation of structural segments of the San Jacinto fault zone at or slightly before the 1.07-Ma base of the Jaramillo subchron. The dextral faults changed again after ca. 0.5–0.6 Ma with creation of new fault segments and folds. There were major and widespread basinal changes in …

Reconciling Holocene Alluvial Records In Buckskin Wash, Southern Utah, Jonathan E. Harvey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Most approaches to interpreting alluvial records in drylands fall into one of two categories: (1) The "arroyo problem," wherein workers study cycles of streambed aggradation and degradation in broad, unconstricted alluvial valleys; and (2) paleoflood hydrology, where alluvial sequences in constricted bedrock canyons are interpreted as paleoflood deposits from streams with stable channel grade and geometry. Both approaches can be valid in their end-member settings, but there is confusion about how the two record types relate in a single drainage. We address this disconnect in Buckskin Wash, an ephemeral stream that consists of a broad alluvial reach draining into a …

A Comparison Of Soil Moisture And Hillslope-Stream Connectivity Between Aspen And Conifer-Dominated Hillslopes Of A First Order Catchment In Northern Utah, Amy R. Burke

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Mountain headwater catchments in the semi-arid Intermountain West are important sources of surface water because these high elevations receive more precipitation than neighboring lowlands. The hydrology of these mountain catchments is especially important as the region faces water shortages and conflicts. Conifer encroachment on aspen stands has been observed across the western US and can result in a decline in water yield. The overall objective of this study was to further our understanding of hillslope-stream connectivity in a headwater catchment of Northern Utah and any observable differences in this connection between aspen and conifer hillslopes. Hillslopes are the fundamental unit …

Alternative Sampling And Analysis Methods For Digital Soil Mapping In Southwestern Utah, Colby W. Brungard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Digital soil mapping (DSM) relies on quantitative relationships between easily measured environmental covariates and field and laboratory data. We applied innovative sampling and inference techniques to predict the distribution of soil properties, soil attributes, taxonomic classes, and dominant vegetation across a 30,000-ha complex Great Basin landscape in southwestern Utah. This arid rangeland was characterized by rugged topography, diverse vegetation, and intricate geology. Environmental covariates calculated from digital elevation models (DEM) and spectral satellite data were used to represent factors controlling soil development and distribution. We investigated optimal sample size and sampled the environmental covariates using conditioned Latin Hypercube Sampling (cLHS). …

Geologic Mapping, Alluvial Stratigraphy, And Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating Of The Kanab Creek Area, Southern Utah, Michelle Carlene Summa

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

At the turn of the century, Kanab Creek incised 30-meters into its alluvium, leaving behind fluvial terraces and thick basin fill sediments exposed along arroyo walls. Research objectives were to determine the timing and causes of past valley-filling and arroyo-cutting episodes along a 20 km-long reach of Kanab Creek in southern Utah. Fluvial deposits were mapped at the 1:12,000 scale and sediments were described and dated using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating.

The Kanab Creek valley can be divided into a narrow, upper terraced reach and a broad lower basin fill reach near Kanab, Utah. The most prominent …

Salinity Inventory And Tolerance Screening In Utah Agriculture, Austin Mccoy Hawks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Soil salinity, a yield-limiting condition, has plagued crop production for centuries by reducing crop productivity. Research has introduced methods for successfully managing soil salinity. This research discusses the adaptation of established management methods to create new soil salinity management techniques.

One adapted technique is an automated crop screening apparatus. A new design was created and successfully used in rapidly screening two strawberry cultivars to determine their tolerance to salinity. Screening crops and determining their tolerance to yield-limiting conditions are essential in managing soil salinity.

Another salinity management tool used in this research was electromagnetic induction (EMI). EMI was used to …

Using Real-World Data As A Basis For Problem-Based Learning: Investigating Preservation Biases Of Fish In Fossil Butte National Monument, Blair Larsen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project examined the design and development of an online problem-based learning module to teach earth-system science to K-12 educators. The module revolved around identifying earth sphere (lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and atmosphere) interactions needed to produce mass fish mortality layers found in the Green River Formation at Fossil Butte National Monument. Students investigated the unique earth sphere combinations needed to produce mass fish mortality layers, reflected on the formation of such deposits, and examined the impact of these earth spheres on the earth system. As a supplement to the course, the students also analyzed data on fossils collected from a …

A River Transformed: Historic Geomorphic Changes Of The Lower Rio Grande In The Big Bend Region Of Texas, Chihuahua, And Coahuila, David James Dean

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Over the last century, the construction and management of large dams and stream-flow diversions, and periodic drought have resulted in significant declines in stream flow of the lower Rio Grande in the Big Bend region. Reductions in mean annual flow and peak discharge have resulted in channel narrowing by the formation of vertically accreting inset floodplains. Narrowing has been temporarily interrupted by infrequent large dam releases greater than 1000 m³/s that have temporarily widened the channel; however, after each of these events, narrowing has resumed. Prior to 1942, floods of this magnitude occurred approximately once every 4 years …

Evolution Of The Lower Cretaceous Chifeng Half-Graben Basins, Inner Mongolia, China, Scott Joshua Friedman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As a result of complex extensional tectonics in northeast China and southern portions of Mongolia, some workers have interpreted the Cretaceous Maanshan Uplift and associated Chifeng basins as metamorphic core complex. Previous work has relied solely upon kinematic indicators to determine the structural origin of these basins. To fully understand the creation of these basins, the sedimentiological record was analyzed in this study. The early Cretaceous sedimentary fill of these basins was analyzed to determine if it is synextensional in nature, and if so what manner of extension was in progress during that deposition.

The Chifeng basins are filled with …

Investigations Into Mapping Lava Flows In The Snake River Plain, Idaho, Vinita Ruth Hobson-Broko

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The origin of the Snake River plain continues to be debated, but the plume model is most popular at the current time. Some theories, such as meteorite impact, have been excluded, but the remaining theories require more scrutiny.

Various methods of examining phenomena in the Snake River Plain were employed. Unsupervised classification of Landsat ETM data indicates that spectra can be used to differentiate between flows. However, photographs of flows at Craters of the Moon National Monument show wide variations in texture and color within a single flow. Vegetation grows preferentially on the smoother pahoehoe slabs and significantly impacting the …

Correlation, Paleogeography, And Provenance Of The Neoproterozoic Eastern Uinta Mountain Group, Goslin Mountain Area, Northeastern Utah, Daniel J. Rybczynski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Geologic mapping, facies analysis, sedimentary petrography, and detrital zircon analyses of undivided eastern Uinta Mountain Group stratigraphy are presented to better understand the depositional environments and tectonic setting of the Uinta Mountain Group basin. Subdivided units have been modified and correlated from previous work and include the Red Pine Shale, Hades Pass, Crouse Canyon, Outlaw Trail, and Diamond Breaks formations. Three lower-order maximum flooding surfaces associated with the lower Outlaw Trail formation, lower Hades Pass formation, and Red Pine Shale are interpreted. The relative magnitude of each lower-order transgression increases up section along with increasing diversity of palynomorph assemblages found …

A Geologic And Hydrochemical Investigation Of The Suitability Of Central Utah's Navajo Sandstone For The Disposal Of Saline Process Water And Co2, Kevin L. Randall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Salt water is produced from the Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale in central Utah as part of the production of coalbed methane (CBM) and is disposed of by injection predominantly into the Navajo Sandstone between 4,500 feet to 7,300 feet and is considered to be a hazardous waste. Local government agencies are concerned about the potential impacts on shallow groundwater because of this disposal method.

Water samples were gathered from four shallow water-supply wells, and nine salt water disposal (SWD) wells to compare hydrochemistries as an indicator of potential mixing. Shallow water-supply wells are likely recharged by local …

Soil Organic Carbon And Site Characteristics In Aspen And Evaluation Of The Potential Effects Of Conifer Encroachment On Soil Properties In Northern Utah, Mical K. Woldeselassie

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the Intermountain West, aspen (Populus tremuloides) has declined mainly due to a combination of successional processes, fire suppression and long-term use of ungulates which has led to replacement by conifers, sagebrush or other shrub communities. Conifer encroachment is believed to cause critical changes in the ecosystem properties. In order to understand the impacts of conifer encroachment on soil properties such as soil organic carbon (SOC) storage, soil morphology, and soil chemical properties, and the implications of such changes, it is very important to assess the soil properties under the two vegetation types. The objectives of this study …

Geochemical Provenance Of Clastic Sedimentary Rocks In The Western Cordillera: Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, And Oregon, John Aaron Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Sedimentary rocks are an important source of information about previous orogenic conditions and the composition of which may describe the evolution of provenance and tectonic setting. Many factors influence sediment composition, namely, source rock composition, chemical weathering, climate, transport burial, and diagenesis. As the sediment composition changes through time, the geochemical characteristics of the sediment can be used to understand its geologic history.

The geochemical characteristics of clastic sedimentary rocks are useful in determining the depositional setting and its associated provenance. Although many different studies have used geochemical discriminants to evaluate provenance and tectonic settings, none have used a defined …

Fluvial Systems Tied Together Through A Common Base Level: The Geomorphic Response Of The Dirty Devil River, North Wash Creek, And The Colorado River To The Rapid Base Level Drop Of Lake Powell, Adam L. Majeski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fluvial adjustment to base level change has its roots in the fundamental concepts of geomorphology. This thesis explores the rate of erosion and sedimentation on the Colorado and Dirty Devil rivers and North Wash Creek under the current base level changes related to the drawdown conditions of Lake Powell. Through cross section and long profile resurveys, the current state of each system is captured and added to the historic record of sedimentation in Lake Powell. All three systems are generally forming narrow and deep incised channels driven by the rapid rate of base level fall. Cross sections that deviate from …

Phenomena Induced By Powerful Hf Pumping Towards Magnetic Zenith With A Frequency Near The F-Region Critical Frequency And The Third Electron Gyro Harmonic Frequency, N. F. Blagoveshchenskaya, Herbert C. Carlson, V. A. Kornienko, T. D. Borisova, M. T. Rietveld, T. K. Yeoman, A. Brekke

Faculty publications

Multi-instrument observational data from an experiment on 13 October 2006 at the EISCAT/HEATING facility at Tromsø, Norway are analysed. The experiment was carried out in the evening hours when the electron density in the F-region dropped, and the HF pump frequency fH was near and then above the critical frequency of the F2 layer. The distinctive feature of this experiment is that the pump frequency was just below the third electron gyro harmonic frequency, while both the HF pump beam and UHF radar beam were directed towards the magnetic zenith (MZ). The HF pump-induced phenomena were diagnosed with several instruments: …

Arkosic Rocks From The San Andreas Fault Observatory At Depth (Safod) Borehole, Central California: Implications For The Structure And Tectonics Of The San Andreas Fault Zone, S. D. Springer, James P. Evans, J. I. Garver, D. Kirschner, Susanne U. Janecke

Geosciences Faculty Publications

The San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) drill hole encountered indurated, high-seismic-velocity arkosic sedimentary rocks west of the active trace of the San Andreas fault in central California. The arkosic rocks are juxtaposed against granitic rocks of the Salinian block to the southwest and against fine-grained Great Valley Group and Jurassic Franciscan rocks to the northeast. We identify three distinct lithologic units using cuttings, core petrography, electrical resistivity image logs, zircon fission-track analyses, and borehole-based geophysical logs. The upper arkose occurs from 1920 to 2530 m measured depth (mmd) in the borehole and is composed of five structural blocks …